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Vince Cable: Britain's blood donor system must not be put at risk

Trust is key: Business Secretary Vince Cable

Published: 19 July 2013

Updated: 11:59, 19 July 2013

Vince Cable today warned Britain’s blood donor system must not be put at risk by “thoughtless commercial activity” as a major stake in the NHS plasma supplier is being sold to a US private equity firm.

Bain Capital is understood to be buying an 80 per cent share of the State-owned blood products company Plasma Resources UK, with the Government keeping the rest.

The Business Secretary told BBC radio: “It is a unique feature of a society where there’s a lot of trust that people give blood, that that blood is then used in an anonymous way for other people. It is a mark of our civilisation.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to see that undermined by any thoughtless commercial activity.

“But if the basic principles of the blood donor system are preserved, I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of the Government deriving some revenue from it.”

But former health minister Lord Owen criticised the deal, asking: “Is there no limit to what and how this coalition government will privatise?”